ETHOS
AUGUST 2014
A Monthly Publication of the International Center for Academic Integrity Featuring Summaries of Integrity News + News from the Center
Quote of the Month
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” -Winston Churchill
UNC’s Whistleblower Accused of Plagiarism on Thesis By: John Newsom
News-Record.com
08/15/2014
The long tendrils of UNC-Chapel Hill’s athletics and academic scandal have reached all the way to Greensboro. Mary Willingham, the whistleblower and former learning specialist at the university, received her master’s degree from UNCG. Now, she faces accusations of plagiarism. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported on Monday that people posting on the Inside Carolina message board dissected Willingham’s master’s thesis over the weekend and found what they said were passages apparently cut and pasted from other sources. On Tuesday, UNCG spokesman Paul Mason confirmed that Willingham received her master’s degree in liberal studies from the university in 2009. To get that degree, she wrote a thesis titled “Academics & Athletics — A Clash of Cultures: Division I Football Programs.” “As a higher education institution with high standards for academic excellence and integrity, we take allegations of academic misconduct very seriously,” Mason wrote in an email. “We review reported incidents thoroughly and take appropriate action in accordance with university policy.” UNCG’s academic integrity policy says plagiarism — representing someone else’s words as your own — is punishable by a grade of F on an assignment or expulsion from the university. But the policy doesn’t address university graduates, and it’s unclear what sanctions, if any, UNCG can impose on a former student. Mason said he couldn’t say if UNCG received complaints about Willingham’s thesis or if the university would investigate plagiarism claims because the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the privacy of most student educational records… http://www.news-record.com/news/schools/article_00c660b6-1d1011e4-b36c-001a4bcf6878.html
From the Director Technology-facilitated Cheating The impending release of Apple’s new “iWatch” has many educators thinking about the potential for technology to facilitate breaches of integrity. Miniature cameras, tiny ear-piecesm, and other rapidly evolving communications technologies make it easier than ever for students who wish to cheat to do so. What is talked about less often, however, are the choices we have regarding how to respond most productively to these innovations with our primary goals of teaching and learning in mind. Rather than focusing on preventing students from using technology to cheat, our time would be better spent thinking of ways to utilize learning methods that are less vulnerable to “hacking” than our current testing systems. Information-rich, yet low tech assessments, such as individual oral exams, while time-consuming, often yield better information about what has been learned while at the same time reducing the likelihood of cheating. Persuading students that cheating isn’t in their best interests, while also challenging, may also yield better results than trying to “out-tech” students, which, in addition to being ineffective from a teaching and learning perspective is also a race that most professors don’t want to spend precious time and energy to run.
~Teddi Fishman
Department of Defense Oversees Walsh Investigation the Defense Department to intervene in a student Great Falls Tribune 07/29/2014 misconduct case, he said. “Because this is a member of The Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of Congress who is a military veteran, we have been given instructions from DOD that they have jurisdiction in this overseeing a plagiarism investigation conducted by the case,” Betros said. U.S. Army War College against Sen. John Walsh of Montana, the college’s provost said. The department will The college referred the case to its academic review board decide whether discipline is warranted based on the after a New York Times story last week showed Walsh, a recommendations of the school’s academic review board, Democrat, used others’ work without attribution in a Provost Lance Betros said. 2007 research paper required for a master’s degree… Normally, that decision is reserved for the school’s deputy http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/29/defens commandant. It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for e-department-oversee-walsh-plagiarism-investigation/13328189/ By: Matt Volz
Announcements
Upcoming Events! 2nd Academic Integrity Conference Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico September 25-26 http://www.udem.edu.mx/Esp/NoticiasEventos/Pages/Eventos/2014/febrero/congr eso-integridad.aspx
SCU Academic’s Articles Retracted Julie Hare TheAustralian.com
7/18/2014
A former SCU academic who
specializes in intellectual property has had multiple journal articles retracted for plagiarism. The case of Angela Adrian was posted by The International Center for academic fraud watchdogs Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus on their Academic Integrity and partner organizations Melrose Training Retraction Watch website.
“Adrian is an expert in intellectual “On the Same Page” property law, a former editor of the Academic Integrity Symposium International Journal of Intellectual MacEwan University / University of Alberta Property Management, a legal Edmonton, Canada scholar whose resume boasts more October 18-19 degrees than a protractor,” wrote Mr. Marcus on the website. “She is http://www.academicintegrity.ca/ also a serial plagiarist.”
Virginia Academic Integrity Working Group University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg, Virginia November 1-2 http://vaiwg.umwblogs.org
Dr. Adrian did not respond when contacted by The Australian. A spokeswoman for the university said Dr. Adrian had been employed at SCU but no longer worked there. She said that because of privacy laws she could not divulge to the ICAI Southeast Regional Consortium HES how long Dr. Adrian had Annual Conference worked there, when she had left or Kennesaw State University the circumstances of her departure.
Kennesaw, Georgia October 27-28 http://ccpe.kennesaw.edu/icai/
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Academic Integrity and Security: Positive and Proactive Approaches Cape Town, South Africa September 18-19, 2014
Retraction Watch says two papers published in 2006 and 2007 had been retracted for plagiarism, as had a 2010 paper titled “Could a small town in Romania bring Australia to its cyber-knees? Not if they accede to the EU Convention on Cybercrime”… http://www.theaustralian.com.au/highereducation/scu-academics-articles-retractedover-plagiarism-claims/story-e6frgcjx1227022199895?nk=bc4db241e730ef8542495 d9a46bcfcca
The International Center for Academic Integrity grants permission to duplicate and distribute this newsletter physically or electronically, so long as it is duplicated and/or distributed in its entirety and without alteration.
and Turnitin will be hosting the first Regional International Conference on Academic Integrity. The event, titled “Academic Integrity and Security: Positive and Proactive Approaches”, will be held at the Protea Sea Point Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa on September 18-19, 2014. Without integrity, research cannot be trusted, academic credentials cannot be relied upon, and degrees and diplomas lose their value. To guard against that, it is necessary for us to articulate and enact the values that underpin educational standards and practices. This conference will help participants identify and recognize threats to integrity that may undermine or interfere with institutional effectiveness and then develop positive and proactive approaches to cultivating communities of integrity that include faculty, students, and staff. For details, visit www.AcademicIntegrity.org!
Please note that this publication features summaries of and links to original works that are subject to copyright protection. ICAI does not claim ownership or credit for any original works found within. This publication is sponsored by:
Ethos Staff:
CAI-L@clemson.edu
Aaron Monson:
Editor
Teddi Fishman:
Executive Editor